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All that jive Miss Wolff gets into the swing of things at Cabaret by RUPERT BOTTENBERG
"As you can guess, at that time swing was danced to everywhere in the world," she says. "Jive is one specific style. In America, you had east coast swing and west coast swing and a lot of other styles. This is very similar, but it is the set style that evolved in London, England." The Yank's jitterbug dance was rechristened the "G.I. jive" in World War II and developed its own distinct form. But now it seems the cultural import is being returned. "Jive has been been picked up recently by rockabilly festivals in the U.S.," says Wolff, who teaches at the Montreal's Building Danse. "The '40s style is the jitterbug and the '50s is jive. Funnily enough, you have to learn the later style first because the jitterbug is a lot trickier." Maybe that's what's holding the naysayers back--trepidation in the face of the apparent complexity of the moves involved. That and the fact that jiving looks like an utterly exhausting activity. "It isn't," remarks Wolff, "if you know how to do it right. It looks a lot more complicated than it is. The beauty is that it's a working relationship between two people. Everyone has their own dance style, so it's a matter of how you get on with your partner. The most important thing is that the two partners act like there's a mirror between them and they are an elastic band. Your first dance with someone new will probably be your worst." When the Cabaret throws its doors open on Friday for its first Swing Night, Miss Wolff will be on hand to give neophytes some valuable tips. And she's raring to go. "I'm absolutely passionate about my dancing," she says, "and I'm hoping to convey a little of that to the crowd. Getting Montreal up and dancingthat's my only goal." Swing Night at the Cabaret happens on Friday, June 13. Miss Wolff gives lessons from 9-10pm, followed by two sets from the Cabaret Big Band. $7 at the door |
Before rock 'n' roll shook up the youth of America with a head-on collision of blues and country and jazz veered off into the cerebral realms of bebop, swing was the dance pop of the day. The pounding rhythms and swaggering brass inspired a wide variety of dance floor manoeuvres. For dance instructor Sophia Wolff, however, the "jive" style popular in her native England through the '40s and '50s is a particular passion.